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The next newsletter is due out on Friday, 22nd March. And I need your help.

While I’m really excited and happy about the feedback I’ve been getting from people who are reading and following along with the story (and voting!), I need more people signing up (and voting) for me to continue writing the book.

I’m gonna be totally honest here and break all those rules that say you should never ever release stats (unless they are AH-mazing).

Lemme start by giving you hard numbers. Since I kicked this off, there have been about 90 new newsletter sign ups. I had cleaned out my newsletter list at the start of this (there were a ton of people who had never completed the sign up process and weren’t actually getting the newsletter). Right now (19 March) there are 317 people signed up for the newsletter.

When I send out a newsletter, the open rate (i.e. the number of people who receive the newsletter and then actually open it) is between 30 to 40%. I know some more people are actually reading the story via people forwarding the PDF file, but I have no way of tracking how many people are doing that (which is why I had decided to send this out via newsletter at all).

For instance, when I sent out chapter five, 107 people opened the newsletter. Then 89 of those people actually clicked the link to open the PDF file. Of those, 22 people actually sent me a vote on what they wanted to happen next.

So, okay, I totally love those 22 people (heck, those 89 people) and a few more people voted on the Chapter seven decision and presumably some more will vote on the Chapter 8 decision.

BUT (and that’s a BIG but)…

I can’t justify writing a book for less than a hundred people. I know there are more Mina fans out there than that. Shoot, I’ve gotten WAY more emails than that from different people begging me to continue the series (ha, I’ve gotten more emails than that from ONE person). I’ve got edits I’m working on for Ask Me (coming in 2014!) and about three other manuscripts I should be spending time on. I really WANT to finish Mina’s story for you guys but I’m not gonna do it for so few people when I have other stuff I should be writing (heck, if that’s truly the number of people who want to know what happens, I’ll just tell you…though, yeah, I know, the story’s the fun, not the end result).

I want to see at least 1000 people signed up (and hopefully more). I want to see some subscription growth each week. I want to see more votes coming in.

And that’s where you come in. And me, too.

Here’s what I’m going to do:

• I’m going to post the previous newsletter’s released chapters directly on my website for easy access to new fans. It won’t be the most up-to-date chapters but it will give anyone who wants to start reading a taste of the story. People will still need to sign up for the newsletter to get the latest chapters as soon as they are released and to vote.
• I will continue to post on my Facebook fan page additional prompts so you can help change the story in other ways than just voting. I really do want this to be YOUR story.
• I’m going to be contacting some writerly peeps and asking them to help spread the word too.
• I’ve started advertising on YA Books Central.
• I have a cool contest idea, but am going to have to hash out some details before I tell you any more about it.

Here’s what I need YOU to do:

• If you haven’t already signed up, do it now.
• Tell your friends. Make them sign up. (okay, don’t, like, hold them at sword point or anything, but if you think they’d like the story, make ‘em try it out. They can always unsubscribe later.)
• When you get the newsletter, open it. And read the chapters. And most importantly…vote.
• Participate on the Facebook Fan Page. Every time you like or respond to a post there, it makes it that much more likely that someone else will also see the post (that’s the way Facebook works).
• If you have a blog or Tumblr or some corner of the Internet that you call your own, please post about this. Tell ‘em how fun it is. How awesome it is to be helping shape the story. Please feel free to use the images in this post (you can link them directly to the book page at http://www.kimberlypauley.com/my-books/sucks-to-be-moi/ or the newsletter sign up page at http://www.kimberlypauley.com/newsletter ) If you need a differently sized image, just let me know and I’ll make it for you.
• If you have any ideas you’d like to share on how to get the word out, let me know. I’d really really like to make this work.

Next Friday I’ll be sending out two more chapters (5 and 6) of Still Sucks to Be Me…Even in Paris to newsletter subscribers. I have to say…this is quite fun! It’s been really interesting reading your comments. I’m working on the chapters now based on what you picked and also trying to decide what the next question is going to be…

So, you know, if you haven’t signed up for the newsletter yet…what are you waiting for?

Also, I’d LOVE to hear your comments about the cover. It’s not final, so any suggestions are appreciated. For instance, I realized that I need to make Mina’s eyes blue…and I might crop it a bit differently and my name down at the bottom looks rather boring.

And do the luggage stamps make sense? If you can’t tell, there are three stamps…one for Paris/France, one for the US, and one for London.

First of all, thank you guys for being so excited over this little experiment of mine! (If you’re joining the party late, I’m releasing the third Sucks to Be Me book as a kind of crowdsourced Choose Your Own Adventure style thing — I send out chapters to newsletter subscribers and end with a few possible paths and then write the next bit based on what people have picked)

It’s been great hearing from all of you and I’m really glad you’re enjoying the story so far.

I can tell already that there’s going to be a huge Cameron vs. George battle going on this whole book.  The voting so far has been incredibly even on two of the options given at the end of chapter 4 (with the third option not getting a single vote so far). It’s interesting to me, (as the author) knowing what my chosen option would have been and seeing what you guys are picking. Not sure if what I would have done is going to be the one that winds up going in or not!

Now, for some important notes about the newsletter system:

If you recently signed up for the newsletter and weren’t in time to get the chapters sent to you yesterday (8 February), please send me an email and I will send them to you directly.

If you signed up for the newsletter (either recently or a long time ago) and haven’t received it, please check your junk/spam mail folder for a verification message. IF YOU DON’T VERIFY YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, YOU WON’T GET ANY NEWSLETTERS!! I can’t stress this enough. Looking at the list, there are about 60 email addresses sitting unverified right now and I can’t verify them for you (my newsletter list is managed through VerticalResponse and they (quite rightly) want to make sure anyone sending messages isn’t a spammer and is only sending them to people that want them).

If you know you have already verified, check your junk/spam folder anyway as the messages might have been delivered there. If you have a way to do it in your email program, consider adding my email address as a “safe sender” (or whatever the equivalent is in your email program)

If you can’t find your verification message or are simply unsure what your status is, go to the newsletter sign up page and re-enter your information. You’ll get a pop-up window that looks like the one below. If it says “Single Opt-In” that means your address is unverified and you’re not going to get any newsletters.

Simply click the link in the pop-up window (the one that says “please click here”) and the system will send you an email with a link to your personal profile page. Click the link to go to the website page. It will look something like this (though, obviously, with your email address instead of Mina’s).

Click that Sign Up Now! button and boom bada bing bada boom! All done! If you want to check your status again you’ll see that your status should now say “Opt In” which means you are, indeed, verified and one of the very special people getting to read this story for absolutely free. Heck, helping write this story!

Okay, here’s this week’s question…I think George needs a hobby. We know he’s musical (remember him jamming with Nathan in book one?), so it could be something related to that. Or something entirely different. We also know he’s a reader (remember Harriet Melman?) and that he’s into history stuff. What else do you think George should/could be into?

Bonus Question: What actor or other famous person (that I could Google) do you think George looks like?

And There’s More!

Go here for a complete list of previous posts about Book Three, including the how and why, the schedule, and the questions I’ve posted so far. And please feel free to go back and comment on any past posts if you’ve missed a question!

P.S. Have you checked out my latest book yet? If you liked Sucks to Be Me, you’ll love Cat Girl’s Day Off!

This is my nephew Cameron, who Cam in the books was named after, with The Max.

This is more of a question for me to find out more about what readers are thinking than something that’s going to necessarily affect  book three (because I *know* how old Cam is…or, at least, I think I do). I’m really curious as to what YOU think. Just how old is Cam? He could be anywhere from 17 to 700. Whaddaya think?

And There’s More!

Go here for a complete list of previous posts about Book Three, including the how and why, the schedule, and the questions I’ve posted so far. And please feel free to go back and comment on any past posts if you’ve missed a question!

P.S. Have you checked out my latest book yet? If you liked Sucks to Be Me, you’ll love Cat Girl’s Day Off!

Hey guys! We’re back from Kenya now (where we had an AMAZING time–I’ll blog about it later). Here’s the latest question for you on Book Three…

Should Astrid (the new character introduced in the first chapter…you know, the one who gets kidnapped by the Black Talons) wind up as a vampire by the end of the book? If she does…it’s hard to say whether she’ll be a “good” one or a “bad” one.

As an update as to the writing of the book…I’m sorry to say that at the moment there’s not a lot of progress between vacation and hanging out with The Max during summer holidays. Am hoping to get some writing in soon but I can’t swing a nanny right now as we’ve got a lot of expenses coming up (we’re moving into a house! which means we have to buy a ton of furniture! we have nothing! we’ve been living in a furnished flat! ack!) so unless there was a fan who happened to live in London and would exchange babysitting time for something, I’m kinda stuck.

And There’s More!

Go here for a complete list of previous posts about Book Three, including the how and why, the schedule, and the questions I’ve posted so far. And please feel free to go back and comment on any past posts if you’ve missed a question!

P.S. Have you checked out my latest book yet? If you liked Sucks to Be Me, you’ll love Cat Girl’s Day Off!

Sacre Coeur — I took this picture when we went to Paris. We stayed quite near this beautiful church in Montemartre.

So…where in Paris MUST Mina visit? There are some locations I’m already planning on, but I’d love to hear what you think. Eiffel Tower? Sacre Coeur? Notre Dame? The Seine? A picturesque sidewalk bistro? Moulin Rouge?

By the way, I’m off on holiday to Kenya this week, so next week’s question will be a day or two late being posted (how much depends on how bad the jet lag is…)

And There’s More!

Go here for a complete list of previous posts about Book Three, including the how and why, the schedule, and the questions I’ve posted so far. And please feel free to go back and comment on any past posts if you’ve missed a question!

P.S. Have you checked out my latest book yet? If you liked Sucks to Be Me, you’ll love Cat Girl’s Day Off!

In the first book, Mina’s mom was a teacher. In the second book, she didn’t have a job because there wasn’t much on offer in Cartville and she was exploring her options. Now…in the third book…any ideas what Mina’s mom might like to take on?

After a comment someone made somewhere in one of the past posts, I was thinking that maybe her mom could get into baking or cooking because a) she’s in Paris, France (good food! NOM NOM NOM) and b) she’s done quite a bit of cookie and cake baking in the books anyway. It’s something she likes to do.

What do you guys think? Any other suggestions or ideas? This may not wind up as a huge part of the story, but unlike many YA books, Mina’s parents are quite involved in her life (hence her problem in the first book). They do love her and she loves them, so even though a lot of Mina’s adventures in this one are going to be off on her own or with…nope, sorry, not gonna tell you yet <evil grin>…I don’t want them to just conveniently disappear so she can go off and tackle things on her own.

Also, any other thoughts / comments / questions about Mina’s mom? Post ‘em here!

And There’s More!

Go here for a complete list of previous posts about Book Three, including the how and why, the schedule, and the questions I’ve posted so far. And please feel free to go back and comment on any past posts if you’ve missed a question!

P.S. Have you checked out my latest book yet? If you liked Sucks to Be Me, you’ll love Cat Girl’s Day Off!